Sensei Sansei (Resanaki NPC)

Sensei Sansei, born 1425, died 1476, was an Okinawan martial arts master known for mastering most known forms of hand-to-hand as well as armed combat. He retired from tournaments and service at the age of 36 to live out his life in isolation in the temple of Nirai Kanai. He would quickly take over the temple and remained in charge of it until his assassination in 1476 at the age of 51.

His assassination served as the inciting incident of the Resanaki campaign.

Before Resanaki
In his youth, Sansei quickly rose to prominence as a true prodigy of the martial arts. Known for his boastful attitude, Sansei would go on to win several tournaments across Okinawa island. By his mid 30s, Sansei was at the height of his career and the most renowned martial artist in the entire Ryūkyū Kingdom, competing and winning in tournaments that focused on unarmed, armed and ranged combat alike.

However in 1461, when Sansei was 36 years old, his life would forever change during the final duel of a karate tournament in Naha. The opponent was a boy half his age, and Sansei struck him in the chest with accidental lethality, rupturing organs and causing internal bleeding. The judges ruled it an accident, deemed the move to be legal and handed the victory to Sansei. And while Sansei won the tournament, the boy would later succumb to his injuries. The prize was a cash amount and a bottle of premium whiskey donated by the local Helios Distillery of Naha, which Sansei reluctantly accepted but would never use himself.

Unable to continue practicing martial arts in good conscience, Sansei disappeared from the world and retreated to the nearby temple of Nirai Kanai. He donated the prize money to the temple and was not long thereafter placed in charge of it himself. For the coming decade, Sansei would push the temple to isolationism, effectively shutting it off from the outside world. He would also become a pacifist and a harsh critic of conflict and the kingdom's military.

For these 10 years, he would live with his fellow monks in peace and isolation until he was approached by his would-be last pupils.

Resanaki
When the outsiders Greg Miller, Touma Ayanami, Nin Yuan and Sassō Ishiguro took up residence in the temple 1471, he was at first reluctant to teach them anything. In the end, however, he was swayed to reconsider by the monk Master Yoshi and the temples dire need for their help in maintaining it.

Over the next five years, he would train them rigorously while the tensions in the kingdom around them increased. Several times during this period, Sansei was approached by the Ryūkyū Kingdom's military commander Kuro and asked to develop the military. The offer was declined every time because of Sansei's pacifism and attitude towards the military. In 1476, the commander visited again with his secretary Katchi, and brought the news that the monarch Shō En had died. With his younger, less experienced brother Shō Sen’i ascending to the throne, the military needed Sansei's help more than ever. Still, the offer was declined, and shortly thereafter the temple was attacked by a group of assassins targeting Sansei. A battle ensued in the dojo, with the five assassins pitted against Sansei and his pupils. The battle ended in a truce, which was short-lived when the assassins' leader fired a poison dart at Sansei, fatally striking him in the shoulder.

With the assassins escaping, the pupils were left to witness the death of their master whose final wish would be revenge. Sansei would also hand over to them their potential reward for completing this quest: the bottle of whiskey he won back in 1461, which he never forgave himself enough to open.